An upgrade to the lowly ruler

 A few guys from the MIT Media Lab just built what has to be the coolest ruler ever. I never thought I’d hear myself utter those words in the same sentence, but this one certainly takes the cake.

They combined a transparent ruler with a translucent OLED screen and a miniature processor to create an interactive ruler.

The stated goal of this project is to help students review their homework in real time, but one of the researchers wasn’t bashful in admitting to one of the ruler’s other capabilities: bringing the time-honored tradition of classroom doodling into the world of animated artwork.